Mikami :bow

[Diunx]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/357308/mikami-japan-needs-to-make-games-like-hollywood-makes-movies/

Japanese game studios need to adopt a Hollywood level of willingness to spend money if they are to catch up to their peers in the West.

That's according to ex-Capcom producer Shinji Mikami, who revealed in PSM3's latest issue that his personal interests are leaning more towards Western developed titles.

"Japan used to have the lead in the game industry, but now it's quite clearly America," he admitted. "To be told that Japanese games suck is a bit harsh," he added, responding to the criticisms made earlier this year by Fez developer Phil Fish.

"But personally, 80% of the games I play at the moment are not Japanese. Skyrim, Batman...games like that are more interesting to me right now. Japan needs to make more good games if it wants people to think otherwise."

Mikami agreed that Japan still produces high-quality games, alluding to Gravity Rush, Yakuza, Monster Hunter, Catherine and Super Mario 3D Land, but said these are few and far in between and skew too much in favour of Japanese tastes.

"Yes, there are amazing games, just not enough of them... So many are based on anime or fantasy - games that only appeal to Japanese people. Most gamers overseas aren't interested in anime," he said.

Mikami highlighted Okami, which melded Japanese mythology with a cel-shaded aesthetic and a Legend of Zelda gameplay framework, as an example of the taste discrepancy between Japanese and Western audiences.

"We made Okami at Clover. It was such a breathtaking game, yet it didn't sell. If that's the case, westerners obviously don't like that sort of game. Maybe they prefer something a little more straightforward."

He ended his sombre introspection by saying Japanese game developers need to be more like Hollywood movie studios and commit bigger budgets to create better experiences.

He also praised his former employer and Metal Gear maestro Hideo Kojima for their efforts in this department.

"Hollywood spends like 200 million dollars producing a movie, and you can make an incredible movie with that sort of money. But Japanese movie studios don't spend anything like that. The difference in [the] scale of the budgets [is] the same in games. Japan needs to make games like Hollywood makes movies. I think Capcom and Hideo Kojima's team are trying hard on that front."

"I hope Japanese developers can take this hobby that we originally propagated and once more offer something special to the world."

In his indictment of the Japanese game development scene earlier this year Keiji Inafune, another former Capcom staffer, said Japanese devs 'need to accept they've fallen behind' and start over.

Hollywood gaming

[SantaC]

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/357308/mikami-japan-needs-to-make-games-like-hollywood-makes-movies/

Japanese game studios need to adopt a Hollywood level of willingness to spend money if they are to catch up to their peers in the West.

That's according to ex-Capcom producer Shinji Mikami, who revealed in PSM3's latest issue that his personal interests are leaning more towards Western developed titles.

"Japan used to have the lead in the game industry, but now it's quite clearly America," he admitted. "To be told that Japanese games suck is a bit harsh," he added, responding to the criticisms made earlier this year by Fez developer Phil Fish.

"But personally, 80% of the games I play at the moment are not Japanese. Skyrim, Batman...games like that are more interesting to me right now. Japan needs to make more good games if it wants people to think otherwise."

Mikami agreed that Japan still produces high-quality games, alluding to Gravity Rush, Yakuza, Monster Hunter, Catherine and Super Mario 3D Land, but said these are few and far in between and skew too much in favour of Japanese tastes.

"Yes, there are amazing games, just not enough of them... So many are based on anime or fantasy - games that only appeal to Japanese people. Most gamers overseas aren't interested in anime," he said.

Mikami highlighted Okami, which melded Japanese mythology with a cel-shaded aesthetic and a Legend of Zelda gameplay framework, as an example of the taste discrepancy between Japanese and Western audiences.

"We made Okami at Clover. It was such a breathtaking game, yet it didn't sell. If that's the case, westerners obviously don't like that sort of game. Maybe they prefer something a little more straightforward."

He ended his sombre introspection by saying Japanese game developers need to be more like Hollywood movie studios and commit bigger budgets to create better experiences.

He also praised his former employer and Metal Gear maestro Hideo Kojima for their efforts in this department.

"Hollywood spends like 200 million dollars producing a movie, and you can make an incredible movie with that sort of money. But Japanese movie studios don't spend anything like that. The difference in [the] scale of the budgets [is] the same in games. Japan needs to make games like Hollywood makes movies. I think Capcom and Hideo Kojima's team are trying hard on that front."

"I hope Japanese developers can take this hobby that we originally propagated and once more offer something special to the world."

In his indictment of the Japanese game development scene earlier this year Keiji Inafune, another former Capcom staffer, said Japanese devs 'need to accept they've fallen behind' and start over.

Hollywood gaming

 

uncharted sucks


How about Japanese devs going back to make games with loads of fun gameplay and less cheesy CGI cutscenes. That's good enough for me.

[Great Rumbler]

Obviously the solution to the floundering games industry is to spend MORE money on games that people will just ignore anyway. [see: Binary Domain, Dragon's Dogma, ect.]

[magus]

western gaming

[iconoclast]

Yeah, spending a bazillion dollars on a huge AAAAAAAA game that could potentially sink your studio is a great idea. Mikami pls.

Capcom and Konami can do that because the games they're sinking that money into are already huge IPs (RE, SF, Metal Gear, etc.). You'd have to be crazy and/or rich to try that with something completely original these days.

[Joe Molotov]

We Hollywood as hell. 

u mad, japan?

[Momo]

Mikami pls.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Mikami isn't wrong in pointing out the Japanese movie industry, by and large, sucks whatever organ of your choice.

in terms of revenue and attendance they should be the strongest non-english film producer in the world.  Instead, they're like around the sixth or seventh best.

[Rahxephon91]

But I like anime. I like Japanese style games. I go to Japanese games because they make things that play and look like Catherine, Okami, and Gravity Rush. Not to sound like a weeboo, but that's the kind of art that appeals to me and something the west wont do. Now if I want something that looks like say Deus Ex, I'll go with a western game, because that's the mod I'm in.

I'm really scared here. I don't know where the Japanese console scene is going. While I think Mikami is a great game designer I can't say his solution is the right one. We've already seen this solution in practice with 2 probably bombs this year, i.e Binary Domain and more importantly Dragon's Dogma. Binary Domain is less interesting because Sega did'nt do much with it and it's not quite AAA. But look at Dragon's Dogma, an expensive game targeted at the west and it looks the part more so then say Quantum Theory. It also suprisngly still has very Japanese sensibilities with it's game mechanics. It did'nt really seem to take here for some reason. I can't think of any new Japanese ip that's targeted at the west that has taken off.

I don't know what the solution for Japan is. Maybe they should stop with the anime, but when they try to imitate the west it comes off pretty meh. Yet still certain anime has appeal in the west. This anime happens to be anime that maybe is actually targeted to Japanese adults. I've shown Ghost in the Shell, Berserk, and Cowboy Bebop to my mother. She liked them. But I'm not going to show Code Geass, Bleach, or whatever lame teen angst is out there to any non-anime fan. They just won't like it. Remember FF is still written for Japanese teenagers and hell maybe that's why it doesn't appeal to western gamers anymore, regardless of it's quality. Meanwhile look at Nier(a title I dislike) who's story I doubt was targeted at the same audience and yet it's probably gotten a lot of praise for it's story here in the west. Maybe the key for Japan is to keep doing what it's doing, make stuff it wants, but not to be hold down by targeting a teenage audience. I don't know, that's just my opinion. I don't have any insider information.

[tiesto]

No, Japan definitely doesn't have to start aping western videogame budgets... especially as the number of western studios who failed due to over-budget bombs constantly increases. The best thing they can do nowadays is focus on the local market first, and then I'll just hope to god that someone like X-SEED picks up the cream of the crop for US release. Or get better at embracing multiplat/PC/downloadable platforms.

The really high budget hollywood western games just lack any sort of interesting mechanics, anything that may be even remotely unique quickly gets axed out and every game tends to look and play exactly the same after a while (this E3 showed that firsthand, where even westaboos were complaining about the sameness of everything).

[Bebpo]

I'm not going to lie.  I'd love to see what would come out of Japan if every major game got the same 50-100 million budget western studios are getting.

[brob]

if anything there should be a government regulated budget ceiling. these motherfuckers need to stay in their lanes otherwise I'll have to go MAME exclusive.

[Great Rumbler]

Is there any Japanese company [aside from Sony and Nintendo] that could afford to pump $50-$100 million into a game and survive it bombing?

[D3RANG3D]

I'd rather have Eurojank than your fancy Hollywood gaming and Anime! Pollacks are the new saviors of gaming!

[Human Snorenado]

But I like anime. I like Japanese style games. I go to Japanese games because they make things that play and look like Catherine, Okami, and Gravity Rush. Not to sound like a weeboo, but that's the kind of art that appeals to me and something the west wont do. Now if I want something that looks like say Deus Ex, I'll go with a western game, because that's the mod I'm in.

I'm really scared here. I don't know where the Japanese console scene is going. While I think Mikami is a great game designer I can't say his solution is the right one. We've already seen this solution in practice with 2 probably bombs this year, i.e Binary Domain and more importantly Dragon's Dogma. Binary Domain is less interesting because Sega did'nt do much with it and it's not quite AAA. But look at Dragon's Dogma, an expensive game targeted at the west and it looks the part more so then say Quantum Theory. It also suprisngly still has very Japanese sensibilities with it's game mechanics. It did'nt really seem to take here for some reason. I can't think of any new Japanese ip that's targeted at the west that has taken off.

I don't know what the solution for Japan is. Maybe they should stop with the anime, but when they try to imitate the west it comes off pretty meh. Yet still certain anime has appeal in the west. This anime happens to be anime that maybe is actually targeted to Japanese adults. I've shown Ghost in the Shell, Berserk, and Cowboy Bebop to my mother. She liked them. But I'm not going to show Code Geass, Bleach, or whatever lame teen angst is out there to any non-anime fan. They just won't like it. Remember FF is still written for Japanese teenagers and hell maybe that's why it doesn't appeal to western gamers anymore, regardless of it's quality. Meanwhile look at Nier(a title I dislike) who's story I doubt was targeted at the same audience and yet it's probably gotten a lot of praise for it's story here in the west. Maybe the key for Japan is to keep doing what it's doing, make stuff it wants, but not to be hold down by targeting a teenage audience. I don't know, that's just my opinion. I don't have any insider information.

tl;dr version- i have bad taste and i'm sad it might no longer be catered to

[magus]

bosyr pls

http://memebase.cheezburger.com/dolanpls
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dolan

[Rahxephon91]

But I like anime. I like Japanese style games. I go to Japanese games because they make things that play and look like Catherine, Okami, and Gravity Rush. Not to sound like a weeboo, but that's the kind of art that appeals to me and something the west wont do. Now if I want something that looks like say Deus Ex, I'll go with a western game, because that's the mod I'm in.

I'm really scared here. I don't know where the Japanese console scene is going. While I think Mikami is a great game designer I can't say his solution is the right one. We've already seen this solution in practice with 2 probably bombs this year, i.e Binary Domain and more importantly Dragon's Dogma. Binary Domain is less interesting because Sega did'nt do much with it and it's not quite AAA. But look at Dragon's Dogma, an expensive game targeted at the west and it looks the part more so then say Quantum Theory. It also suprisngly still has very Japanese sensibilities with it's game mechanics. It did'nt really seem to take here for some reason. I can't think of any new Japanese ip that's targeted at the west that has taken off.

I don't know what the solution for Japan is. Maybe they should stop with the anime, but when they try to imitate the west it comes off pretty meh. Yet still certain anime has appeal in the west. This anime happens to be anime that maybe is actually targeted to Japanese adults. I've shown Ghost in the Shell, Berserk, and Cowboy Bebop to my mother. She liked them. But I'm not going to show Code Geass, Bleach, or whatever lame teen angst is out there to any non-anime fan. They just won't like it. Remember FF is still written for Japanese teenagers and hell maybe that's why it doesn't appeal to western gamers anymore, regardless of it's quality. Meanwhile look at Nier(a title I dislike) who's story I doubt was targeted at the same audience and yet it's probably gotten a lot of praise for it's story here in the west. Maybe the key for Japan is to keep doing what it's doing, make stuff it wants, but not to be hold down by targeting a teenage audience. I don't know, that's just my opinion. I don't have any insider information.

tl;dr version- i have bad taste and i'm sad it might no longer be catered to

OK? I'm so happy you've figured what I like and what it takes for me to be catered to based on nothing. Oh expert, please tell me some more about myself.


Your right, I'm not being catered to. Even Japan is stuck with it's moe shit I don't care about. But man if I did I would have a slew of NIS and Gust games to jerk off to.

At least Platinum and Grasshopper exist. And Mikami has some new game coming.

[etiolate]

kojima and sony fans

hurting us all

[tiesto]

I'd rather have Eurojank than your fancy Hollywood gaming and Anime! Pollacks are the new saviors of gaming!

The Polish games have heart I will give you that... now if they can just work on their QA departments...

[D3RANG3D]

I'd rather have Eurojank than your fancy Hollywood gaming and Anime! Pollacks are the new saviors of gaming!

The Polish games have heart I will give you that... now if they can just work on their QA departments...

That's the charm you weeaboo filth!

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

Is there any Japanese company [aside from Sony and Nintendo] that could afford to pump $50-$100 million into a game and survive it bombing?

Square?

definitely not Sony(The Last Guardian notwithstanding), Square is only marginally profitable, and Nintendo actually can afford it, but seems to be allergic to spending money on anything, plus is losing money these days (will continue to do so until/if 3DS picks up worldwide and if the Wii U succeeds or not).

Capcom basically did that gamble with Dragons Dogma and lost.  They're trying again with RE6.
Namco might be able to, but that's only because they're no longer reliant upon gaming.

[Momo]

Plenty of Japanese companies actually can. Sega-sammy // Namco-Bandai springs to mind, but they arent interested in funneling money into gaming blackholes when their other divisions make fuck tons of money.

[Great Rumbler]

Plenty of Japanese companies actually can. Sega-sammy // Namco-Bandai springs to mind, but they arent interested in funneling money into gaming blackholes when their other divisions make fuck tons of money.

Sega? Not after Binary Domain.

[Momo]

Sega-sammy are doing fine financially iirc

[Great Rumbler]

Are we talking about the same Sega that just recently announced a contraction of game development to core franchises and is closing some of its European offices?

[Momo]

Yes, however, keep in mind I am talking Sega-Sammy here and not just the gaming division.

[Great Rumbler]

I think we're basically agreeing here.